Chevrolet reaches out to LGBTQ community

Chevrolet is setting aside product pitches in its largest-ever outreach campaign to the LGBTQ community.

The sales push can come later. For now, Chevy wants to make clear what it stands for.

The General Motors brand has set its sights on amplifying key issues and voices in the community in an ongoing effort called "Authentic Voices of Pride" with Q.Digital, an LGBTQ media agency. The project covers topics including families, drag as activism, sports and inclusion, homelessness and justice reform through a series of documentaries and articles housed on LGBTQ Nation, Q.Digital's news site.

When the social justice movement spread through the nation last summer after George Floyd's death, GM CEO Mary Barra said she wanted the company to be the most inclusive in the world.

This is an external mission as much as it is an internal one, said Steven Majoros, vice president of Chevy marketing.

"If you're going to live up to that promise, you've got to put initiatives out there that encapsulate deeds and words," Majoros told Automotive News.

Instead of limiting itself to Pride Month in June, the Chevy team decided it wanted to launch a prolonged initiative. The campaign with Q.Digital has been releasing content every three weeks since September and will continue throughout the fall.

The voices project, Majoros said, is a continuation of Chevy's attempts to foster conversations with marginalized groups. He pointed to Chevy's "Real Talk, Real Change" series focused on racial and social justice that debuted in December and its relationships with historically Black colleges and universities.

Chevy holds a unique spot within GM because of its vast reach. The brand is the company's volume leader and has its broadest customer base, with a portfolio that includes budget-friendly small cars, electric vehicles and heavy-duty pickups.

A brand like that, Majoros said, has a responsibility to be as inclusive as the customer base it to which it hopes to market.

Chevy didn't base this effort on a preconceived set of ideas. It sought input from the LGBTQ community to build the campaign and relied on Q.Digital's expertise to help determine the most critical subjects to explore.

The content carried recurring themes of perseverance, triumph and helping others within the community overcome struggles, said Christine Wright, who manages media strategy and planning for Chevy and is part of the LGBTQ community.

The Q.Digital team traveled the country conducting interviews for the expansive undertaking.

Chevy said it "wanted to spark these conversations, and obviously be seen alongside these conversations, but we're not talking about cars," Q.Digital CEO Scott Gatz said.

Although the brand isn't overtly hawking vehicles, Wright said the support it's showing can help LGBTQ consumers identify with the brand and potentially earn a spot on their shopping list above others that aren't doing the same outreach.

Chevy is donating a total of $125,000 to five charities linked to the series' themes.

Majoros said Chevy doesn't want to position itself as the expert in this space.

"There are a lot of partners out there that have worked long and hard to establish their reputation to be a voice of credibility to understand the issues that matter most to this community," he said. "If we can help shine a spotlight on those, if we can help promote a thoughtful, engaging dialogue in this space, if we can contribute a little bit to that, if we can help an organization that's tied to some of those issues. That's the approach that we've taken [and] I think it's been a successful model."